Alls Fair in Love and War
by Kristina Durr
Summary: Just a story of what I think it would have been like for Temari and Itachi to have been together.
1. chapter 1

"ALLS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR"

Chapter 1

Itachi woke up with a pounding headache and pain that he was unaccustomed to. He tried to look around but found that moving caused a lot of pain. Slowly moving his head to look around as much as he could he noticed a woman not too far from him. He vaguely recognized her as being the sister of the one-tailed sand demon jinchuriki. She starts to stir and he cringes. She did the same thing he did and got the same result. She slowly moved her head and noticed him. He could see the instant reaction in her eyes...fear...before she buried it.

"Where am I?" She asks in a hoarse voice. He doesn't answer, he just looks at her. "Did you hear me Uchiha, where the hell am I? Why can't I move?" She asks getting more upset by the second. Still he doesn't say anything, she is now so upset that without thinking she sits up and instantly falls over moaning in pain. "Of all the things that could go wrong..." She mutters to herself. She waits a minute then tries to sit up again with the same result.

Having watched her do this now three times he finally responds, "Save your energy Kunoichi, I have no idea how we got here, where here is, or who is behind this. But I assure you, when I find the person or people responsible for this they will DIE." She doesn't respond at all, save for finally lying still. She turns her head to look at him again but says nothing. She stares at him for a few minutes before she turns to face the wall on her otherside.

The day pass silently, until a small rectangle shaped slot in the door opens and two trays one after the other are pushed in and the slot closes. Neither Itachi nor Temari move other than to look at the trays. After about an hour Itachi crawls to the trays and grabs one and shoves it at her. Having used all his energy to get to the trays he collapses next to his tray. Seeing the effort he put in for her, she shifts slowly mumbling, "Arigato." His only response is, "Hn." They both very slowly choke down the stale bread and day old hunk of meat. Neither drink the bottled water that came with their meal yet. The silence that has been so profound that both shinobi, who are normally content with silence, are becoming unnerved by it. That being said both are fighting to hide their discomfort from each other.

The days pass in the same pattern, profound silence and food at the end of the day. Seeing and hearing her shifting and twitching as she heals, is beginning to get to Itachi. In a very uncharacteristic move, he throws the cap to an empty water bottle at her. When she turns around to chastise him for his childish behaviour, she see a dumb looking expression on his face. Thinking better of yelling at him she mutters, "Baka Yarow." Nothing else happens for the rest of the day until food arrives.

A/N: Arigato= Thank You

Baka Yarow= Stupid Jerk


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later, having had enough of the silence Itachi throws another bottle cap at her, hitting her in the back of her head. This time she can't help but respond. "Listen here yochina jaku, I will get up and kick your ass." Amused Itachi just looks at her. After a few minutes Itachi says, "What makes you think you _can_ kick my ass _Kunoichi_?" Furious now she glares at him, "You want to find out?" With the patented Uchiha smirk he says, "I don't see how you are going to show me _Kunoichi_ , you can barely move." As if to prove his point he throws another cap at her, this time hitting her between the eyes. She sits up too fast yelling, _"MY NAME IS SABAKU TEMARI, YOU BAKA-TEME._ _LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE OR I WILL KILL YOU!"_ Breathing heavily from the effort, a second later she slumps back to the floor swearing softly.

Before Itachi can respond, a man appears in the room in front of the door. He is roughly six feet tall with a medium build, and gives off the aura of madness. Itachi sits up too quickly, but his dizziness doesn't show. Enraged, Temari snarls, "Who the hell are you?" With a cocky smirk the man says, "Serda Tekuto." With his usual stoic expression Itachi asks, "Why are we here?" Serda doesn't respond, he just takes in both of their appearances. Then with his cocky smirk he poofs showing he was a clone. Temari curses loudly for several minutes, Itachi collapses back to the floor silencing her. She looks at him but says nothing. He shifts a couple minutes later, seeing this Temari slips back to the floor and closes her eyes, and slips into the darkness. Both of them lay there in exausted sleep for hours, dinner arrived but neither moved or even twitched.

The next day having slept hard Temari is up early. She looks over at Itachi, and can see that he is still breathing and asleep. Turning her back to him, she slowly sits up and waits out her dizziness. She slowly moves all of the muscles of her upper body. The effort she had to put into staying upright for more than a few minutes was more than she was prepared for. Slumping back to the floor with a loud sigh Temari swears softly.

Itachi, who had been feigning sleep, watched the whole scene with an expression of concern. Her back was still to him, so from the floor he began tense and flex his muscles from the neck down in order. A few minutes later when he was done, he slowly and silently sat up, and felt no dizziness. With a smirk he slowly and silently slips back to the floor. Waiting a few minutes, with his eyes on Temari he crawls to the wall opposite the door and lays along it. He was exausted when he got there and promptly fell asleep.

A few hours later, Temari slowly rolls over and looks around the room. She sees that Itachi is now asleep along the wall opposite the door. She rolls to her belly and waits a few seconds taking stock in herself. Satisfied, she _very slowly_ crawled to the wall so that his head is above hers. They are both facing the door now, she is out of breath but still conscience. A little while later she hears Itachi shift, and looks up to see he is moving to sit against the wall facing the door. She sees a brief flash of pain before his expression is blank again.

Taking a deep breath she _very slowly_ copies him. When her back as against the wall she felt a small spasm in her back, she grimices through it and stays upright. "So how long do you think it will be before he sends another clone?" She asks. Itachi dosen't answer, he just shakes his head. She swears softly and slips back to her laying position, a few minutes later Itachi does the same.

The next day is quiet until the clone appears in the room again. Itachi gives Temari a look but she doesn't see it as she is glaring at the clone in the middle of the room. Neither move from where they are lay on the floor, and this annoys Serda. "So maybe you both are as weak as you appear." He says. Itachi twitches but doesn't reply, Temari for her part doesn't say anything but her glare intensifies. Noticing that they are not taking his bait he slowly moves toward them. He glares down at Temari, "You are not the one I was after, but will do as bait." Turning to Itachi, "You are here because your father was a stupid man, he promised something he did not deliver. I realize now that was because you killed him, poetic I suppose." Temari is stunned and it shows on her face. Itachi doesn't say anything just stares at him with his patented blank look. Temari could have sworn that she saw something else flash for a fraction of a second, but couldn't tell for sure. When she looked back at Serda he seemed pissed off. He stands there for another few minutes staring at them before he steps back and poofs with a loud sigh.

Both of them are at a loss for words. Temari knows that it was her baby brother Serda meant to kidnap. She has no idea what is happening and she hates that more than anything right now, she rolls over a few miutes later and faces the wall curling into a tight ball. Itachi who hasn't moved the whole time, slowly shakes out his legs and sits up against the wall in one smooth motion. He taps her foot and begins to stand up slowly. A shocked Temari watches him steady himself on the wall and walk across the room and back. He puts his back on the wall next to her and slides down it. She slowly sits up and looks over at him to see if he is looking at her. When she sees that he is, she draws a deep breath and calls chakra to her hands and waves them around and a small wind whips around the room. He shows his surprise for a fraction of a second, and she was sure she saw it this time. She disburses the chakra and slumps, he nods at her then slips to the floor and goes to sleep. She watches him for a few minutes then follows his lead.

A/N: Baka-Teme= Stupid Bastard

Yochina Jaku = Childish Jerk


	3. Chapter 3

Serda comes in clone form everyday for the next two weeks. He tries as hard as he can to bait them into getting mad and attacking him. He tries everything from insulting them and their families to throwing their pasts in their faces. Neither give into the bait so he hasn't showed up in two days. On the third day Itachi and Temari are both able to go through their forms well enough to feel confident.

They have been sitting against the wall opposite the door staring off into space for a few hours, when Itachi feels it necessary to get her attention. "When next he comes in it is best to make him think we will give him what he wants. We need to get the real man here if we wish to be on our way." Temari nods, "What is your plan?" She asks. "When the real man is here we can surprise him with rush attacks he won't see coming. Kill him as fast as possible, we will need his hand to get out of this room. Then run and fight our way out if necessary." He didn't look at her the whole time he was talking, but when he finished he looks at her to see that she understands. She nods at him then slips to the floor and goes to sleep. He sits there for another hour lost in his thoughts before he too goes to sleep.

Two days later, much to Temari and Itachi's surprise, Serda comes via the door. He walks a couple steps in and the door closes, he doesn't say anything he just looks at them. Temari looks him in the eye and says, "What do you want from my brother?" Serda looks at her for a moment. "Your brother has sentient being trapped inside him against its will. My aim is to free that being." Serda can see the shock that passes like lightning across both their face and smirks smugly. "As for you Uchiha-San, your sharingan has the greatest potential to become something much more powerful. I am going to see that happen weither you want it too or not…"

Before Serda can finish his sentance, Temari and Itachi are on their feet and really close. He panics and starts moving toward the door, before he can reach it both close in. Temari's hand connects with the back of his head and Itachi's hand connects with his chest right over his heart. He slumps to the ground dead. Temari without missing a beat heads to the door, a second later Itachi drags a dead Serda to the door. Temari places his hand on the rock next to the door, they hear a click and Itachi releases him. They wait for the door to fully open then silently exit the room one to the left one to the right.

Temari having gone left finds the cavern they are in is smaller than she thought, it only took her half an hour to explore. The rest of the cavern consisted of another large room and a much bigger room cut in half. The first room looked like it was used for meetings. There were lots of paper and folders and scrolls, nothing on or in them was important at all. The door to the next two room is between two bookcases. The next room was crudely cut in half with a sloppily made wall of sandstone blocks. It looks like it is the kitchen/dining room. The cubbards still have food in them and the refriderator does too. She moves past the wall to see several bedrolls, pillows, and blankets. This must be the common sleeping room. Finding neither anyone else nor another way out she backtracks to where she left Itachi.

Itachi went right and the hallway lead him to another room with a door across from him. Seeing no one in the room he crosses it quickly and slowly opens the door to see the entrance to the cave about a hundred yards away. Before he can move he senses three people moving closer to him by the second. He activates his sharingan then switches to his mangekyo. He steps out and before any of the three ninja can react his has them trapped in his genjutsu. It doesn't take but a minute before he is told about the barrier and that it can't be taken down from the inside. Before he can ask any more all three men drop to the ground foaming at the mouth. Itachi steps back and watches them die with a bored expression. He searches the whole area in front of the barrier and finds nothing. So he turns around and heads back to where he left Temari.

Temari didn't have to wait long for Itachi to come back, barely five minutes after she gets there he does. "I found the way out…" Before he can say more she goes running off in the direction he just came from to see for herself. Deciding she would figure out the problem when she got there, he waits for her to come back. It took longer than he thought it would almost an hour. When she got back she was so angry she didn't say a word she just tries to punch him, he dodges but doesn't retaliate. She continues to attack him, and as the minutes go by and the more he dodges her hits the more angry she gets. Her fury reaches a point that she loses control of her punch and it went really wide and struck the rock wall next to him. She swears loudly and slumps to the floor cradling her hand. Seeing that she is done trying to hit him he tries again to explain. "The three men you saw over there told me that the barrier can't be taken down from the inside. We may be here awhile. With that said he starts walking in the direction she had gone first.


	4. chapter 4

THREE HOURS LATER

Itachi has searched the entire cavern, and having found the kitchen he prepares food for both of them. He quicky eats his and brings hers to the room they woke up in. As he suspected she was there curled up in a ball. He walks slowly toward her and stops three feet away, and puts down her tray. Without waiting for a response he leaves her in the room. On his way back to the kitchen he realizes that the room they woke up in, is the easist to defend if attacked. So he heads straight to the sleeping area and shakes out all the blankets and bedrolls.

He beats the pillows with a stick he found, he also locates all the weapons and things they had on them when they were capured. He splits the bedrolls, blankets and pillows into two sepreate piles then puts her things on top of one. He carries the pile of things to her and sets them exactly where he left her food. He takes a second to notice that she ate what he made for her. He goes back for his pile, when he returns to the room he sees that she has set herself up a in the left corner of the wall facing the door. He moves to the right corner of the same wall and sets himself up.

Sitting on his make shift bed and staring off into space, Itachi sees Temari sit up fast. Barely a second passes before she is facing him. "So what kind of deed does a man have to commit to be killed by his own son." Temari asks with a sneer. Not surprised that she would go there he doesn't respond and keeps a carefully blank face. "Am I not worthy of one of the most notorious nuke-nin's attenion? Nothing to say for yourself, ne? I am aware anyone who asks usually dies, but I'm feelin lucky." Itachi still shows no response but is now looking her straight in the eye. "Tell me, how did it feel to take the life of the one who gave you life." Itachi visibly flinches but still does not respond. Temari with fire in her eyes and a deep fury in her voice says, "Did you really save your brother the night you spared him?"

That was Itachi's breaking point. "How dare you talk about my brother when yours has been called The Green Eyed Monster for the better part of his life. How dare you point out how many I have killed when you and your brothers killed 319 people that were mostly civilian spectators? How dare you talk about what I did or didn't do for Sasuke when the only thing you ever did for your brother was fear him." He stopped to take a breath and she burst into tears. Itachi's temper cooled instantly, knowing he couldn't watch her cry he gets up and leaves the room.

TWO WEEKS LATER

He's been avoiding her for the last two weeks, whenever she enters a room he will exit. She feels even more alone than before. After two weeks she suddenly decides that she has had enough of this childish game and tries to follow him. He is very good at hiding and is fast on his feet. This becomes something of a training game for them the next several weeks. He hasn't said a word to her the entire time and everytime she sees him he has his poker face on. She was hard pressed to push because at least they had something to do.

Finally after almost a month of this cat and mouse game Temari again has had enough. She stops short and very loudly says, "You never answered my question, Uchiha-san. Tell me what it was like." Before she could move, he was in front of her and she was in his genjutsu. He watched her body and facial expressions as she experiences it first hand. When it was over, he looked her in the eye and asked, "Does that answer your question Sabaku-San?" Without waiting for her to respond he leaves the room.

She actively avoids him for the next week. She didn't know how to react, she is pretty sure he showed her more than he ment to. She saw him sobbing over his parents moments before Sasuke walked into the room. And she saw him cry for his brother before he left the village. Perhaps there is more to that story than meets the eye.

When she finally worked up the nerve to face him, she found him in the kitchen. He was about to leave when she stopped him. "Matso (1)… Onegai (2)... Gomen-Nasai (3)... Gomen-Nasai… She started out looking at her feet but when she said she was sorry the second time she was looking him in the eye. With her face several shades of red and tears on her cheeks she disappears from the room. Itachi stands there and wonders what exactly she saw. He was sure he showed it to her from… What did she see? Knowing she will avoid him for at least another few days he decides to let it go for now.

1= Wait

2= Please

3=I'm Sorry


	5. Chapter 5

THREE DAYS LATER

'Why is it bothering me so much?' Temari thought. 'Why do I care what really happened?' She tries to tell her self that it is because she is bored. But somewhere in the back of her mind she knows that's not all of it. Why would someone who killed his family for power, sob over their bodies. Why would said person leave his home in tears after cruelly sparing a child...just one child... his little brother. The relation alone said something significant but then looking at him and starting to cry as he walked away never allowed to return was more significant. If not for power then why? Her train of thought was cut off when he walked into the kitchen and froze. For the fraction of a second he stood there he look almost startled. Swiftly he made his way across the room and lit the fire to boil water.

Gathering all of her courage she looks toward where he is standing and asks the question that has been diving her nuts. "What really happened?" He turns to face her with surprise all over his face for a good minute. Just then the kettle whistles it is done, he turns his back to her without a word. He measures the the leaves into his cup and pours the water into it as well, then without a word he leaves the room. She knew he wasn't going to answer, so why did she feel that familiar flash of pain from being ignored. She flinched at the thought and got angry and her anger quickly turned to fury. Just who the hell was this crazy-ass mass murderer to think he can ignore me.

Rounding the corner she pulls a kunai from the holder on her hip and throws it at him. It sticks into the wall inches in front of his face. He stops and turns to face her with an impassive look. She realizes she has his attention now and can't think of how to say what she needs to say. So she repeats her question, "What really happened?" He looks at her for a minute, as if debating weither to answer or not. "There was a disagreement about how the village should be run…" he said. Then turns around and disapprears around the next corner. She watches the hall he was standing in for some time after trying to process what happened. She shook her head almost two hours later when she still had no idea what to do with him, and went back into the kitchen. Moving toward the stove she grabs a match from there and lights the two candles in the room. She sat down at the table and got lost in her thoughts.

The days continued on in her own personal hell of silence. A week after trying to force him to talk to her Temari decided she didn't give a damn anymore. She didn't have to care and she wasn't going to. She decided that she didn't care what he thought. She woke up earlier than she normally did the next morning and loudly went about her routine. Knowing almost as soon as she started to move he was awake and watching her. Having decided that she really didn't care, she grabbed her things and readied for a long bath. She walked across the room on flat feet as loud as she could. It never ocurred to her to try and be loud when she walked so it was harder than it should have been.

She proceeded down the hall that way until she got to the first corner and she couldn't do it anymore. She hurried to the bathing area on the tips of her toes. She closed the make shift door when she got inside, and turned toward the shower and grimaced at what she saw. She set her stuff on a clean corner of the floor, then turned on the hot water tap praying it still worked. She waited a few minutes then tested and thanked Kami that it was hot.

Itachi was sitting on his bed wondering what had gotten into that troublesome woman. She definately wanted his attention this morning but said nothing. She went to the disgusting shower room knowing what she would find there, what is she up too now. Troublesome woman….

Three hours later Temari came out of the shower room feeling better than she had in a while The shower room was clean and so was she. She knew that she had his attention now and she decided that she was going to pull a page out of his book. She was going to ignore him, and wait to see how long it took him to snap as she had.

She heard him come down the hall as she sat down waiting for the water to boil for rice and tea. It struck her as odd that she heard him, he almost never made a sound when he moved. He was trained like she was, so why is it that he wants to be heard. When he entered the room she did not look up at him she kept staring at the table in front of her. He stood in the doorway for a minute then made his way to the shower room. She heard his sharp inhale when he saw what she did to the room, she smirked but didn't comment. The kettle whistled just then and she got up and went about making food and tea.

Almost and hour later Itachi came out of the shower room also feeling better. He looked around the room and noticed that Temari ws no longer in the room. He noticed that there was a covered plated and a tea cup on the table for him. He set the kettle to boil water again, then went to the table and uncovered the plate. He saw that she had rehydrated some meat and made rice balls. He almost smiled at the food there, as he waited for the water. When it was ready he made his tea and sat down and ate. He was surprised to find the food actually tasted good.

When he was done eating and cleaning his dishes, he decided to see what she was up too. He started where they sleep, she wasn't there. He then looked in all of the other rooms, she wasn't in any of them. Finally he realized that she must be by the cave entrance. When he got there he saw her going through her kata with what looked like a mini version of the fan she always carried. If he was being honset with himself, she looked attractive like that. She was moving smoothly like she did this everyday of her life. He wouldn't be surprised if she had, so he stood there watching her move like he'd never seen someone train before.

She noticed him the second he got there, she was aware that he was watching her. She ignored him and continued to go about her routine, wondering if he would say anything. An hour later when she felt she had done well in the exercises, she sank to the floor. She crossed her legs and began to meditate. She could feel him there, he hadn't moved the whole time. She knew he was waiting for her to recognize he presence, but she refused to do so.

Annoyed now that she was throughly ignoring him he decided to speak, "You wanted my attention this morning, so what do you want?" He said. She didn't so much as twitch at his words. He stood there for another minute waiting for her to respond. When she didn't he decided to try another tact, "Why do you want my attention woman?" Still she did not so much as moved when he spoke. Really annoyed now he turned on his heel and left. Temari smirked at that but didn't move, her plan was well on it's way.


	6. CHAPTER 6

The days that followed went exactly the same way as the first. Temari would get up loudly and go take a shower. She would make food and leave his on the table. She would go and do her exercises then meditate. He would watch her the whole time and ask his questions and leave in a huff when she didn't answer. Things went this way for two weeks, and finally Itachi had had enough of this nonsense. He was on his way to make her talk to him when he heard a loud explosion.

Being fully armed as he always was he moved toward to source of the noise. Activating his sharingan as he reached to cave entrance he saw something that surprised him. Her brothers had found her, he stood there and watched as she hugged both of them. She must have noticed he was there because she looked at him, both of her brothers noticed him then and made to go after him. She turned back to them and put her hands on their arms. "Don't bother, this is no more his fault than it was mine. He was as much a prisoner as I was." She said. Both of them looked at her with with looks that clearly said that they didn't believe that. "Please just take me home, I really really want to go home." With that all three of them turned and left. Itachi stood there for nearly an hour after they left, before he realized that he was free. He went back to the sleeping room and gathered his things and left.

THREE MONTH TIME SKIP

GAARA'S POV

"She hasn't been the same since she got back and I don't like it." He said. "I know but there isn't anything we can do about it. She refuses to tell us what is wrong and it seems to be getting worse day by day. The medics say that there was no physcial trauma after the drug they used to capture her wore off. So she wasn't assulted and there is no brain damage so it wasn't a really bad genjutsu. I have a feeling that this has more to do with unanswered questions…" Kankuro trailed off.

Gaara didn't seem surprised by this. "What exactly do you mean by unanswered questions?" He asked. "She spaces out and starts mumbling 'why did he do it?' and 'there has to be something that was missed'. I have no idea what she is talking about but I can only assume that she is talking about the Uchiha and murdering his clan." Kankuro mused out loud. "Well all I can do is ask her, but now come to think of it there were so many questions about why he did it, that were never answered." Gaara said. "Go ahead and ask her but I have the feeling that you won't get any further that any of us did. Do you want me to send her to you?" Kankuro asked. Gaara nodded but said nothing. After Kankuro left, he pulled out a message scroll and pens a short note then gets up and crosses his office to the window. He whistles and a hawk appears. "Take this to Konoha and wait for a response." The bird caws and takes off.

As he is crossing back to his desk Temari enters. "You asked for me?" She asks. Gaara nods as he sits down at his desk, he looks her over a minute before he speaks. "You have been in bad shape since we brought you home." He states. "The medics say there is nothing wrong with you but I think this has something to do with your fellow prisoner, is there something you need to talk about?" He asks not masking his concern. She seems surprised for a minute but hides it quickly. "As you said the medics say there is nothing wrong with me. Not he did not assult me or put me in a genjutsu he did not do anything to me at all. I…" She trails off. Gaara says nothing in hopes she will continue. "The bastard holding us told me that I was not the target but I would do fine as bait…" She trails off again. Gaara knows that he was the intended target, he also knows that she is using that as an excuse to avoid what is really bothering her.

"Why does that bother you so much, you know as well a I do that I have always been a target because of Shikaku and even more so when I became Kazekage. It has never bothered you this much before, so why now?" He asks her. "You also know as well as I do that we were never this close before, you mean more to me now than ever before." she replies. 'True enough' he thinks but something else is going on here. Choosing to leave it alone he nods at her. "Alright, however I cannot return you to active duty until you pass the psych exam, and right now you are failing miserably. I am here and fine, kankuro is here and fine and you are home now, there is nothing to worry about right now. Go home get some rest and return to training tomorrow, in a few days there will be another test. Hopefully you will pass, because your team misses you and we need one of our best kunoichi back to work." Gaara says. Temari nods and takes her leave. Folding his hands on his desk he ponders how to get her to tell him what happened. Maybe when the Hokage responds he will have more answers.

KISAME'S POV

Itachi has been even more stoic than usual since his return. He seems to avoid even him lately. He only leaves his room when he has a mission, which has been once in the last three months. After their mission no one has seen their leader or his partner at all. No one has gotten orders at all and that is odd enough but Tobi has been nowhere to be seen either. Something strange is going on and it is bothering him more with each passing day. Having finally had enough he walks to Itachi's room and knocks. He hears a muffled 'come in' and he enters to see Itachi sitting on his window seat staring outside. Looking over Itachi sees Kisame with a concerned look. "How can I help you Kisame?" He asks. "I was wondering the same about you. You have been out of it since your return, so much so that you either haven't noticed or really don't care that it has been more than two months since our last set of orders, and no one has seen leader, Konan or Tobi for that matter." Itachi looks at him for a minute, "What do you know about the Uchiha other than me?" He asks. "Including you I know very little. All I know is how you came to be part of Akatsuki, and may I say even that story feels like it has holes in it." Rather than answer Itachi says, "Sometime very soon you will have to make a choice that may or may not get you those answers." With that said he goes back to staring out the window, shaking his head Kisame leaves the room.


	7. CHAPTER 7

TWO WEEKS LATER

TEMARI'S POV

Having finally passed the psych exam Temari is sent on a undercover solo mission to Grass Country. Her brother told he when she left that this mission may take up to three months. Temari still agrees to go on the mission, and leaves the village the next day at dawn. Traveling all day she stops to rest just past sundown, as she is setting up her camp she suddenly stops and turns toward the thin stand of trees behind her. Swearing under her breath she pulls out a kunai from her thigh holster and moves to investigate the noise she thought she heard. Entering the trees she looks in all directions and sees nothing. She silently moves through the trees looking for the source of the sound she heard. After nearly an hour of finding nothing she puts it down to 'the wind'. She goes back to her camp and eats two ration bars and settles down to rest. She stays in her semi-alert state all night but no other out of place sounds are heard.

ITACHI'S POV

Watching her proved to be much harder that he thought it would be. Itachi is not normally the kind to dwell on something or someone said for long, but when she asked what really happened like she knew without being told that not all was well with the story she was told. What is bothering him now is her reaction to what she saw in his genjutsu. What did she see? He knows he showed her what happened from his point of view but there has to be something that he missed. Why would she be so upset about seeing first hand an event she knew all about… Well all things considered he knew most would be upset about watching dozens of people murdered, but she seemed to be upset about something other than the obvious And he means to find out what. So here he is following her through the nations to see if he can gleen his answers without approaching her. It is quickly becoming clear that he may actually have to speak to her and make her tell him what exactly she saw.

GAARA'S POV

I recieved to response to the letter I sent to Konoha, and from what she is saying the story that everyone was told was the real one. I can't say I believe that but it is her secret to keep. Now I wonder how to go about getting the real story….

TEMARI'S POV

The next several days went by in mind numbing blur for Temari same stuff, different day. She got to Grass Country in good time, scouting out the village was easy enough. After a long day of walking around she finds a nice Inn to stay in for the remainder of her mission. After a few hours of lounging in her room she began to feel as though she was being watched. She got up and went to the only window in her room. She opened it and stuck her head out and looked around, seeing nothing she goes still trying to sense someone tring to hide. Again finding nothing she pulls her head back in the window, just as she goes to close the window she sees a blur pass a few feet in front of her window.

Annoyed now she calls out, "Whoever you are just come out and face me like an adult. I know you've been following me since I left my village." For the first few seconds nothing happens, then she hears movement behind her in her room. She whips around and sees the last person in the world she thought she would see in her room. Standing there in a plain black cloak and a very serious experssion is Itachi Uchiha. All she can say in a barely audible whisper is,"Itachi". His voice seemed a little rough when he spoke, "Temari".


	8. CHAPTER 8

TEMARI'S POV

After standing there for nearly five minutes staring at each other Temari speaks, "Can I help you with something? Is there some sane reason why you followed me from the time I left my village?" She asks. He stares at her for another minute before replying. "I am not entirely sure if my reasons are sane or make any sense at all, but I want to know what you saw in my genjutsu. I want to know why you seem to think that what you were told about what happened to my clan is not the whole story." His voice drops to a near whisper and he says, "Most of all I want to know why I care so much about what you think…" Temari looks at him with a smirk but says nothing. A minute later her eyes darken and she says,"Well, as I had to wait for so long for a reaction from you, now it is your turn." Still smirking, she turns picks up her fan and exits the room.

FOUR HOURS LATER

Temari enters her room hoping not to see Itachi there, but sadly he is sitting on a chair opposite the door. "You really are going to haunt me until I answer aren't you." She asks turning to place her fan by the door. When she is looking at him again he nods saying nothing. Shaking her head, she moves into the room toward her pack on the bed, pulls out her bed clothes and heads into the bathroom and proceeds to take a shower. When she comes out she sees him in the same spot having not moved. She walks by him as if he isn't there and then climbs into bed. She reaches over and turns off the only light in the room, the lamp on the bedside table.

For the next three hours he sits there sharingan blazing, wondering why she feels safe enough to go to sleep with him there. An odd thought for an Akatsuki member know as the clan killer. After three hours of feeling his eyes on her, she rolls over and sees glowing red eyes. She stares at them almost hypnotised, getting flashes of him crying over his parents and as he leaves his brother and village. Realizing what is happening, she rolls back over. She hears him sigh softly and shift in the chair, and the feeling of eyes on her goes away. She closes her eyes with her own sigh and slips into sleep.

The next moring was not as akward as she thought it was be. She woke up to him sitting at the table eating a bento. She gets up and goes into the bathroom, when she comes out a few minutes later fully dressed she sees that there is a bento box in front of the other chair. "Eat." was all he said. She sat down and did just that, and and part way through eating she frowned, thinking to herself, how did he know my favorite kind of bento? "I have come to the conclusion that one can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar." She continues to eat her food with a frown.

When she finshed eating she looked up at him. "What or who made you do it?" She asks. This question has been haunting her since she saw his version of that nights events. He just looks at her for a long minute then suddenly stiffens and says, "You would not believe the answer to that." With an even bigger frown she mumbles, "Try me."

He never intended to ever tell anyone the story, but for some reason he finds himself speaking. "My father was a cold calaulating man, he was always looking for more. My father didn't have a family he had show peices. The beautiful, strong, intelligent wife. Perfect over achiveing children, and a good sized following of other power hungry family members." He stops talking wih a look of pure annoyance and moves to the window in the room. Looking out he says, "I will return." And he disappeares out the window. She stares at the window more confused than when she started. "What the hell was that? Definately more to it.."

TWO WEEKS LATER

For the next two weeks Temari played shadow with her targets. This mission is turning out to be more tedious than any other like it she has had in a while. Looking for new ways to keep herself entertained while doing tedious jobs is starting to annoy her almost as much as waiting for the specific target she was sent to watch. She found herself playing games with herself from her childhood. Hide and seek was next on her list but she couldn't bring herself to actually pretend to play by herself feeling increasingly stupid as time went by. She spent almost all of her free time convincing herself she wasn't waiting for Itachi to come back. Trying to keep her mind as far from said Uchiha as possible. She keeps trying to tell herself that it didn't matter why he killed nearly 200 people in one night, just that he did. Trying and failing epically, "What is about that man… get it together girl.." Some of which she said out loud earning some strange looks from the people around her. Shaking her head she walks away.

Turning the corner of a tall building, she walked right into her main target. Her first thought was, 'He is more attractive than I anticipated.'


	9. CHAPTER 9

"My apologies miss." He said as he steadies Temari on her feet. Temari was struck dumb for a second, it took her another second to regain her senses. When she did she gave him the blantent once over. Seeing this he smirks smugly, "Like what you see?" He asks. Forcing her own smirk Temari replies,"Not sure yet, but I can say I've seen worse." A look of surprise crosses his face for a second then disappears. Realizing she was rude Temari backpeddles,"Oh Kami I'm so sorry, I've had a long day." His face splits into a smile that seemed to light up his face. "No worries I can understand that. I apologize for bumping into you, my name is Katori by the way."

Temari falling back into her role smiles, "Nice to met you Katori-san, I amTemeeko." Before Temari can continue she gets the feeling of eyes on her, glancing around she doesn't see anyone paying attention to her. "So Temeeko-san what does the rest of your night look like?" Startled for a second Temari just looks at him. "Why does that matter?" She asks with a frown. Still smiling Katori says,"Nothing nefarious just wondering if you would like to join me for dinner. You see my mother was supposed to join me, but she did not make it to the village today so I am on my own." It only took Temari a second to consider how much easier it would make her mission if she got close to him she nods. "That sounds nice, just let me freshen up and you can pick me up from in front of The Red Moon Inn one hour from now." She says smiling at him. "Alright Temeeko-san I will see you in one hour." Still nodding Temari turns and heads to the Inn.

As she makes her way across the village square Temari can feel the eyes on her again. This time she figures that Itachi is back and letting her know it. Without changing her pace or looking aound she makes her way to the Inn and goes straight to her room to wait for him. Entering her room Temari grabs her things and heads to the bathroom. She takes a shower and then dresses casually. She braids her hair in one long plait down her back and puts on subtle make-up and is done.

Just as she exits the bathroom Itachi is climbing through the open window. When he is properly standing in front of her, he is struck dumb for a second. Temari fights off a sumg smirk as she watches him look at her. A second later she moves around him to put the rest of her things away. "What can I do for you Uchiha-san, as you can see I am going to be busy with my mission tonight." She says without looking at him. "You know very well why I am here Sabaku-san." He says. "Ah yes, you are waiting for an answer. Tell me Uchiha-san, how does it feel to be on the otherside of an unanswered question? I believe that I asked a question that you did not finish answering. Tell you what if you are not busy tomorrow we can pick this up then." Temari finishes with extreme sarcasm, as she turns and leaves the room.


End file.
